Inter-Agency Workshop on Strengthening Cooperation in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries

Between 9th and 13th September 2013, the European Commission, DG DEVCO 07 – Fragility and Crisis Management Unit, in close cooperation with other Commission services and with the European External Action Service, and with the support of UNDP, USAID and the World Bank, organised in Brussels the Inter-Agency Workshop on Strengthening Cooperation in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries - Core Course on Fragility, Security and Development.

The event united 64 experts from all four donor agencies, working in/on almost 20 of the most emblematic fragile or conflict-affected countries in the world, to share their experiences in advancing the agenda of the New Deal Peacebuilding and Statebuilding goals and to identify ways to strengthen the dialogue and collaboration in specific country settings.

The training had three distinct, but related sets of learning objectives:

1. From a policy and programmatic point of view, participants will understand the conceptual basis, recent policy shifts, and best practice in the design and implementation of the rule of law and governance programmes in fragile and post conflict settings, as well as opportunities brought about by the private sector in economic recovery and employment creation after a crisis. The thematic discussions will be underpinned by a reflection on the importance of getting the analysis right before designing our interventions and a review of current analytical tools. 
2.  From an institutional point of view, participants will understand who the other partners are, that they are likely to be working with/in fragile countries, and what are their respective approaches, capacities and priority areas. As a result, participants will understand the areas of consensus and the key differences in perspective among international actors and recognize where partners may have a greater advantage in terms of capacity, legitimacy or better entry points for dialogue and action with national stakeholders.
3. From a policy coherence and inter-institutional collaboration perspective the training aims at identifying bottlenecks to better articulate our work in fragile countries, clarifying how other actors operate and liaise with each other  and reflect on what can be done to enhance collective action at country level.